


Azalea

by Pippinpaddleopsicopolis (Barnable)



Series: Whenever I'm Around You [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ATLA WLW Week 2020, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Azula (Avatar)-centric, Day One: Capitalism AU | Fluff, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, POV Azula (Avatar), Pre-Relationship, Tattoo Artist Mai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26530666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barnable/pseuds/Pippinpaddleopsicopolis
Summary: Azula decides to get a tattoo to spite her father. The artist is a lot more beautiful than she anticipated. Awkward flirting ensues.
Relationships: Azula/Mai (Avatar)
Series: Whenever I'm Around You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1931983
Comments: 9
Kudos: 85
Collections: AtLA WLW week 2020





	Azalea

“You are _not_ getting a tattoo.”

“Why not?” Azula gave her friend a look as she slammed the car door shut behind her, shoving her keys down into her purse. “It’s not like you don’t already have one. In what reality is it not fair for me to get one too?”

“Well, for one thing, your dad hates them,” said Ty Lee, throwing her light brown braid over her shoulder. “I know you hate him, and you have every right to, but I don’t know if it’s safe to piss him off, you know? He’s pretty scary. And anyway, since when do you even _want_ a tattoo? Do you know what you’re going to get or are you just picking something random from the wall? Please don’t do that. Don’t get something generic.”

“Because that heart on your wrist is so unique.” The moment she spoke, Ty Lee glanced down to her wrist, her expression falling. “Anyway, I don’t know what I’m going to get, but I know I’m not leaving her without something. My asshole of a father has betrayed me for the last time, and I am going to do something so that he’ll never want to look at me again. Stop looking at me like that. I’m not going to regret it.”

Azula rolled her eyes, ignoring Ty Lee’s innocent shrug as she yanked open the door to the tattoo parlor. In all honesty, she didn’t know what she was going to get, or whether she’d be able to go through with it, but she had to give it a try. She wanted to stick it to her father and getting a tattoo she could post about all over social media while he was three thousand miles away was the least dangerous way for her to do that.

Given that she couldn’t care less about her friend’s opinion on the matter, Azula stepped right into the building. She was not surprised by the sight in front of her, with tons of designs on the walls and exotic paintings around, but the blaring music was honestly a bit much. Azula sighed and stomped up to the counter, ringing the service bell impatiently. Wasn’t someone supposed to be there at all times?

“Sorry, I’m running behind,” said a voice, stepping out from the curtain behind the dimly lit counter. “Are you my two o’clock?”

Rather than responding, Azula froze where she stood. It was not fair. She wanted to be annoyed at the tattoo artist for being so slow, but the woman was so damn hot she didn’t have it in her to shout. She was taller than Azula but not by a lot, her black hair pulled up into one of the most intricate dos she’d ever laid eyes on. Her dress was soft and elegant, but edgy and torn at the bottom in a way that didn’t quite look deliberate. On her feet, she wore spiked short heels, with stockings Azula stared at for far too long. On her wrists, she donned several tight bracelets with words you couldn’t read from afar, and on her face, the darkest, sharpest makeup around her deep brown eyes.

“Yes, I’m Azula,” she managed to answer once Ty Lee nudged her shoulder. She was almost laughing, as if she hadn’t done the exact same thing when she first met her girlfriend at the campus coffee shop. “I had an appointment to get a tattoo. Like you do at these places.”

“Yeah, I got you on the schedule, thanks.” The woman looked over to Ty Lee, her expression never changing. “Are you here for an appointment too, or…?”

“Oh, no. I’m just here with my friend.” Ty Lee wrapped an arm around Azula’s, smiling as she looked between the two other women. Azula said nothing, simply sighing and doing the best she could to keep from calling her out on her shit. “I’m actually going to go hang out at the bakery next door while you do this thing. My girlfriend works there, so… yeah! I’ll see you in a bit, Azula.”

Ty Lee gave her one more look before she left, which very clearly expressed the fact that she thought Azula should make a move. She rolled her eyes, turning back to the gorgeous woman behind the counter. She wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge, but she knew nothing about this girl. It didn’t seem like a great idea to flirt with her until she figured out what she was like.

“Okay, you know what tattoo you want?” asked the woman.

“Er, no. I thought I’d figure it out once I got here,” said Azula, glancing down to her feet. “Clearly, I didn’t think that through very well. These are all very generic and honestly, I don’t even know where I want to get it. Somewhere visible, but not always visible, you know what I mean?”

“No, I don’t. Let’s just slow down a little bit, all right?” She stepped around the counter, pulling a lock of stray hair behind her ear. “I’m Mai, by the way, and I have no appointments booked immediately after you so don’t rush. I hate it when people pick tattoos on a whim and then come back in here bitching about them a week later.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t do that. The only reason I’m doing this is to stick it to my dickhead father. He doesn’t think it’s ladylike for women to have tattoos—not that I’ve ever been ladylike, but I was his ‘perfect little ballerina’ or whatever, so I want something that’s going to piss him off. Do you have anything like that?”

“Wow, that’s a seriously stupid idea. You’re going to permanently mark your body just to stick it to your dad? Why don’t you just go for something like a piercing? I’m assuming he wouldn’t like that much either. You got those studs in, why not just buy a pair of them flipping the bird? That’s not particularly ‘ladylike’ either.”

“Yeah, but my friend has a tattoo, so what’s the big deal?” Azula shrugged, turning around to look at the wall of designs. She was _not_ going to choose something generic, but maybe she could get inspired by one of them. “I’ll probably just get like a rose with the words ‘fuck you’ in it or something. Could you do that?”

“I _could_ , yeah, I just don’t know if it’s a great idea.” The fact that Mai was trying to talk her _out_ of the tattoo was honestly ridiculous. Did the woman not want her money? Wasn’t it her _job_ to do whatever Azula wanted? “Listen, I’ve had a lot of people come in here demanding I take their tattoos off or somehow fix them and I don’t want you to end up like those assholes.”

“End up like those assholes? Bold of you to assume I’m not already an asshole.”

“You’re not. Believe me, I’ve seen enough of them. Don’t worry about picking something your dad would hate, just choose a design that _you_ really like. And it doesn’t have to be huge and visible either, if he really hates tattoos, he’ll hate regardless of what it is. Come on, let me show you some of my work.”

Azula sighed, crossing her arms as she turned to follow Mai into the back room. She sat down in the leather chair that Mai gestured to, tapping her foot impatiently while she waited for the tattoo artist to return with the designs. When she did, Azula was not disappointed. There were some _insane_ designs in her book—from flowers to people to the fanciest fonts she’d ever seen on a human being. She stared for too long, her eyes wide, and when she looked up, they nearly popped right out of her head.

The entire room around them was covered in gorgeous art, including designs similar to the ones in the book and ones she didn’t know at all. Azula’s personal favorite was the one at the far back of the room, almost hidden beneath a shelf of tools and inventory. She kept her gaze on the ring of azaleas for a lengthy moment, before turning back to Mai with a glint in her amber eyes.

“Could you do something like that?” she asked hopefully. “Not like, the whole garden, but the flowers.”

“Absolutely.” Mai nodded, already reaching for her tools. “I actually drew that one, so it won’t be a problem at all. Do you know where you want it?”

“No. You really drew that? It’s gorgeous.”

“Yep. I’d say it would look best on your collarbone, your hip, or around your hand, but it’s up to you. Most people go for the shoulder. Thoughts?”

“I, er—” Azula’s thoughts were too busy fawning over how beautiful and talented Mai was to say a word about herself. “Let’s do it on my hand. The left one. Right around… here, and maybe trailing up towards my thumb or something? You’re the expert, I’m sure you know how to make it look better than I do.”

Mai nodded and made some promise about how it was going to look great, but Azula didn’t hear much of what she said. She was too busy paying attention to the way her hands moved as she prepped Azula’s hand, wrist, and forearm; verbally walking her through the procedure and how it was going to go. Azula wasn’t afraid of being hurt in the least—she’d already been hurt a thousand times in her life—but the idea of the ink being permanent suddenly started to sink in. Rather than dwelling on that, she decided to take the initiative and distract herself with conversation.

“So, how long have you been doing this for?”

“A couple years,” answered Mai, shrugging casually. She dragged a swab across Azula’s arm, and she shivered as the cool liquid made impact with her skin. “I always knew I wanted to do it, though. My shitty dad hates tattoos too, so that was always a plus in my direction. He was encouraging me, and he didn’t even know it. That your motivations too?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Azula nodded, wincing when Mai began to tattoo. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. It was fine. She’d been through far worse before, what with everything that happened in her family. “Have you been drawing for a long time too? You’re really damn good.”

Rather than immediately responding, Mai waited until she was finished with the line she was working on and could stop without making a mistake. Even then, she only nodded, not giving Azula a lot to go off of. She wanted to keep talking, to learn more about the woman and to keep herself from having second thoughts, but she recognized that Mai was heavily in the zone and didn’t want to risk messing her up either.

It took close to two hours to finish the tattoo. At first, Azula didn’t realize that she was actually done—they’d been making small talk here and there, but for the most part, Mai was quiet through the process—but then she kicked her chair back and nodded approvingly, giving Azula a look. Though she could’ve turned at any moment, it wasn’t until just then when Azula finally took a good look at the tattoo, and her entire face lit up in a state of awe.

The flowers were tiny but beautiful, spinning around the base of her hand and wrapping around her thumb and her wrist. The outline was more red than pink, but it was soft and almost unnoticeable depending on the way she turned the light. Azula turned to look at Mai, a smile spreading up her lips. She wanted to say, ‘thank you’, but the words that came out of her mouth weren’t quite that.

“Go out with me,” she said, her tone slightly more demanding than it should’ve been. “I mean, like, on a date. You said you had no appointments this afternoon, so come to the bakery with me and we can have a… cupcake. Or something. If you want to, of course. I’m not saying you _have_ to come out with me, I just thought you might like to. Possibly.”

“I take it you like the tattoo then?” Mai smiled, turning around to wash off her hands. She was gone for a good minute, but when she came back, she gave Azula a smile. “I would _love_ to come out with you. You’re talking about the bakery down the street, right? Because their cupcakes are good but believe me, it’s the pie you want.”

“Pie it is, then. My treat.”

“No, my treat. You’re paying out the ass for that tattoo, this is the least I can do. That was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Most people just want really boring ones or stupid ones, you know? Nothing… nothing _beautiful_ like that. Like _you_.”

The blush on Azula’s face was more than a little obvious, but she was able to turn away before it got too embarrassing. They quickly finished their business with the tattoo, Mai explaining how she should take care of it for the first few days and weeks. When they were done, Azula stepped outside, waiting in the cool air for Mai to meet her. She’d said she needed a minute to grab her purse, but when she came out, all she had was a wristlet.

“That’s your purse?” said Azula, furrowing her brow.

“Yeah. How much stuff should I have to carry around? This is fine.” Mai patted the small bag, then nodded in the direction of the bakery. “You ready to go?”

“Yep. I just forgot something.”

“What?”

“Your thank you.”

It was stupid and impulsive but Azula didn’t regret it for a moment when she stepped forward and pressed their lips together. Mai seemed a little baffled at first, but she let Azula kiss her. It wasn’t long, only lasting a few seconds and not going any deeper than a soft kiss to the skin, but it was special. It was perfect. Though she did her best to keep her face stoic, Azula couldn’t help but smile when they pulled apart.

“Wow,” said Mai, letting out a breath. She pushed a hand through her hair, her eyes scanning Azula up and down. “I think that’s the best ‘thank you’ I’ve ever gotten before.”

“You might get another if you buy me lunch.” Azula reached out for her hand, biting down on the corner of her lip. It took a second, but Mai wrapped her own fingers around it, if only for the short walk to the bakery. “Oh, and you have to listen to my friend Ty Lee the whole time, too. I know you only saw a little bit of her before, but you’re going to hate her. I promise.”

Mai laughed. “You never know, maybe we’ll all be best friends someday.”

“One can dream.”


End file.
